No effort appears to have been made to provide any suitable means for an immobilized individual to participate alone in games of skill and sport involving thrown projectiles such as darts and balls.
Retrieving said projectiles has always created a problem. Additional persons have been required to retrieve said projectiles, contributing to the immobilized individuals feelings of dependency; possibly the most distressing aspect of immobilization and one that needs no further strengthening.
This invention is a means for immobilized individuals to participate alone in games of skill and sport involving thrown round projectiles, and providing for their return to the individual for repeated use.
Every act the individual performs with this invention creates and/or contributes toward his/her feeling of independence. This helps to improve the individuals state of mind, which many physicians have stated as the single most effective aid toward recovery for a convalescing individual.
This invention also provides additional exercise for the upper extremities in addition to normal therapy.
This invention was developed and tested in a hospital and allows persons confined to a bed or wheelchair to actively engage in games such as basketball.
A search of existing patents did not reveal any devices which could be used in this environment. The field of the search was class 273, subclass 1.5,103.
The following U.S. Pat. Nos. are submitted as being of interest in this invention: 1,769,269, 273/1.5, 2,617,653, 273/1.5, 2,659,495, 273/1.5, 3,233,896, 273/1.5, 3,776,550, 273/1.5, 3,901,506, 273/103.
KING, U.S. Pat. No. 3,233,896 describes a ball return device to be used with a conventional basketball court, the ball must enter the basket or come close to be returned to the player at the foul line. The end of the recovery (Ball return) device is attached to the floor of the court.
CAVENEY, U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,506 describes a similar system except the recovery system allows a greater miss-distance from the basketball hoop. The end of the recovery device is still attached to the floor of the court.
McNABB, U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,550, also describes a similar system except with a wider recovery system allowing a still larger miss-distance. The bottom of the recovery system is still on the floor of a conventional basketball court. This patent also describes a device which throws the returned ball to the player. HATLEY, U.S. Pat. No. 351,635 also describes a ball return system for a conventional basketball court where the end of the recovery system is terminated on the floor of the court.
ELLIOTT, U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,635 describes a toy or miniature table game which employs a ball return device.
KELLER, U.S. Pat. No. 2,617,653, also describes a toy miniature table game which employs a ball return device.
The present invention is dissimilar to all of these, it utilizes a recovery system, but one that is designed for a hospital bed or wheelchair situation. The recovery system of the above patents are all of the rigid type and are terminated on the floor of the basketball court or game. The recovery system of this invention is non-rigid and is terminated at the waist of the player.